Look who is in charge:
"Sept. 11 fund progress criticized" by David B. Caruso | Associated Press, November 23, 2013
NEW YORK — The federal fund for people with illnesses related to the Sept. 11 attacks said Friday it has been able to issue compensation decisions to only 112 people out of nearly 55,000 who have applied so far — a performance one advocacy group called unacceptable.
In her second annual report, Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund special master Sheila Birnbaum said her staff had spent much of the year resolving bureaucratic problems and dealing with a surge in applications that arrived as people exposed to dust at the World Trade Center raced to beat an October deadline.
The fund has been able to award only $27.2 million of the $2.78 billion appropriated by Congress.
Little of that money has actually reached people, because of a decision to hold back 90 percent of the cash until administrators know whether they will have enough in the fund to pay all claims.
The slow pace has upset some advocates for the sick.
It also raises questions about whether the fund has the resources to handle the mountain of applications.
Birnbaum said that she believed the fund’s staff and lawyers representing applicants had overcome some of the issues that initially caused things to get bogged down.
9/11 Health Watch, an advocacy group, said in a statement that the small number of awards issued to date is ‘‘unacceptable.’’
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This after the government told you it was safe to go work down there.
Related: 9/11 Memory Hole: Chump Change For 9/11 Heroes
But stand tall at the ceremonies:
"Height of new World Trade Center debated in Chicago; Group deciding if it will now be tallest in the US" by Jason Keyser | Associated Press, November 09, 2013
CHICAGO — Rising from the ashes of 9/11, the new World Trade Center tower has punched above the New York skyline to reach its powerfully symbolic height of 1,776 feet and become the tallest building in the country. Or has it?
A committee of architects recognized as the arbiters on world building heights met Friday to decide whether a design change affecting the skyscraper’s 408-foot needle disqualifies it from being counted. Disqualification would deny the tower the title as the nation’s tallest.
But there’s more than bragging rights at stake: 1 World Trade Center stands as a monument to those killed in the terrorist attacks, and the ruling could dim the echo of America’s founding year in the structure’s height. Without the needle, the building measures 1,368 feet, a number that also holds symbolic weight as the height of the original World Trade Center.
What’s more, the decision is being made by an organization based in Chicago, whose cultural and architectural history is embodied by the Willis — formerly Sears — Tower that would be knocked into second place by a vote in favor of the New York structure.
‘‘Most of the time these decisions are not so controversial,’’ said Daniel Safarik, an architect and spokesman for the nonprofit Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The 30 members of its Height Committee met to render judgment behind closed doors in Chicago, where the world’s first skyscraper appeared in 1884.
The committee, comprising industry professionals from all over the world, will announce its decision next week.
The question over 1 World Trade Center, which remains under construction and is expected to open next year, arose because of a change to the design of its tower-topping needle. Under the council’s current criteria, spires that are an integral part of a building’s aesthetic design count; broadcast antennas that can be added and removed do not.
The designers of 1 World Trade Center had intended to enclose the mast’s communications gear in decorative cladding of fiberglass and steel. But the developer removed that shell from the design, saying it would be impossible to properly maintain or repair. Without it, the question is whether the mast is now primarily just a broadcast antenna.
According to the architecture firm behind the building, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, the needle will have a communications platform for radio and television equipment, but it will also be topped with an LED beacon that will fire out a horizontal blaze of light visible from up to 50 miles away on a clear night — a feature that has been described as a crowning beacon of hope....
I'm tired of being reminded of the myth and having my mind manipulated by endless reinforcement.
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Also see: It’s a stretch, but New York City building ‘tallest’
Of course, nothing can ever compensate for that awful day, not even the truth admitted by the perpetrators.
